Hannibal's destiny was already chosen for him before his own birth. The only thing that couldn't have been foretold was the outcome of his struggles. His father Hamilcar Barca, another fearless commander from Carthage, was in charge during the first Punic War. Hannibal was taken to Spain at the young age of only nine. There he was forced to swear hostility to Rome. From his fathers death to his own death Hannibal was constantly involved in a struggle between Carthage and Rome.

Hannibal was placed in the army as soon as his father felt he was old enough to start his vigorous training. He learned to handle arms as skillfully as any soldier does, and he never asked his soldiers to do something that he himself could not do. In 221 BC, Hasdrubal was assassinated, and Hamilcar died in battle in 229 BC. The young Hannibal was given his first command, at the age of twenty-s

Khalaf, S. G. (1999, January 25). Colonial Punic Wars and Hannibal [On-line]. Available: http://phoenicia.cnchost.com/punicwar.html

Hannibal throughout his life was a military genius. He had a great personality and was very persuasive. It was said that he could get any man to fight for him. Hannibal did what not many could do, defeat the Romans time and time again. His military victories brought him so close to beating the Romans, but he never had the chance to finally destroy Rome. "His examples in war have sometimes been applied, with success, to destroy greater evils than he could have imagined or understood, In this sense, so longs as war remains an instrument of policy, he was a creator and not a destroyer"(Cottrell p 248).

In 216, Hannibal made his move south and seized the army supply depot at Cannae on the Aufidus River. Here, in August, The Battle of Cannae was fought. While the Guals and Iberian infantry of Hannibal's center line yielded before the drive of the numerically superior Roman infantry, the Libyan infantry and cavalry of Hannibal's flanks stood fast, overlapped the Roman line, an in a rear encircling movement turned to pursue the victorious legionaries(Khalaf p.2). This great land victory brought the desired effect, but Hannibal did not march on Rome and decided to spend the winter of 216-215 in Capua. Carthaginian fighting strength was beginning to weaken. Realizing this the Romans began to put the strategy suggested by Fabius into operation. Fabius's suggestions consisted of: to defend the cities loyal to Rome; to try to recover, where opportunity offered it but rather to keep the Carthaginians alert in every theatre of war. Hannibal, due to inferior numbers wasn't able to spread his forces to match the Romans or throw his concentrated strength into a decisive battle, turned the tides from offensive to defensive in Italy. Hannibal gained only minor victories, except for the capture of Tarentum, for the next two years.

According to H.L. Oerter of Miami University, Hannibal's journey, including 40 elephants, over and through the Alps into Italy has never been denied. But, there has been no generalized agreement on the route that he followed. It is known that two Greek scholars accompanied Hannibal's forces, but their accounts have never been found.

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Approximate Word count = 1563
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)